Thanks to Plutio I’m definitely more organized, waste less time and have less to be stressed about.

“It was the first tool I was genuinely excited about on AppSumo. It did invoicing, proposals, tasks, chat, time tracking - all in one place. It was a no-brainer.”
- Kelly Wade, Author and entrepreneur

Meet Dr. Kelly Wade

Dr. Kelly Wade is the kind of person who wears many hats - and wears them well. 

A former scientist turned marketing strategist, Kelly runs a nimble, full-funnel marketing agency from Australia.

What’s slightly unusual about Kelly’s clientele is that they usually fall into two groups. 

The first is small family-run businesses looking for full service marketing and complete funnels, so they can create content and capture leads.

And on the other side she works with large international organisations trying to break into the Australian market.

Kelly knows how to move customers from problem-awareness stage all the way to loyal brand advocates.

Her journey into business began during maternity leave. During her of years work for the Australian government science department she had a hand in a few marketing and PR projects.

And she discovered that she had a knack for strategy, messaging and making complex ideas easy to understand. And best of all she enjoyed it.

“It started with doing a bit on the side during maternity leave - and I thought why not do this full time and make it my business.”

So when flexible work arrangements weren’t an option upon her return, she made the leap to entrepreneurship.

Since then, she’s built a successful business that runs on systems, strategy - and Plutio.

Life before Plutio: a patch-work of clunky tools

Before discovering Plutio, Kelly was doing what many solo founders do in the early days: patching together free or low-cost tools to manage essential business processes.

Proposals were crafted in Word. Invoices tracked in Excel. Multi-currency billing? A complete logistical headache.

“Half my clients were in Australia, the other half in the US. None of the free tools I tried could handle a multi-currency setup and taxes. The only option I found was to pay for Xero’s multi-currency support, but the monthly cost was ridiculous.”

There was also no automation, no clean system for client communication and no real way to track time spent on projects.

In short, everything required extra effort just to get by. 

“I had a really good foldering system for all my proposals… but, thankfully, I don’t need one anymore and it’s nice to have one less thing to worry about.”

The AppSumo find that changed everything

It was on AppSumo that Kelly first stumbled across Plutio. 

Unlike the other tools she’d tried, this one stood out.

“It was the first tool I was genuinely excited about on AppSumo. It did invoicing, proposals, tasks, chat, time tracking - all in one place. It was a no-brainer.”

It wasn’t just a proposal builder. Or just a time tracker. Or just invoicing software.

It was… everything. 

And it actually worked!

“I remember thinking: “this would just make things so much easier”. So the excitement was there. At that time I’d been using AppSumo for a while but Plutio was the first tool I didn’t just get the lowest plan on.” 

A little lightbulb moment

Kelly remembers one moment when things just kind of “clicked”:  

“When I was using Excel and Word-based proposals - it was always kind of wishy-washy

You’d usually just have an email somewhere with: ‘yeah, let's go ahead.’

So having someone actually sign the proposal in Plutio and get the notification that says: ‘yes, they have accepted it’. 

That was kind of a little light bulb moment for me.

I saw the notification and thought - wow, this just works.”

From ‘duct tape’ to ‘done and dusted’

Since switching to Plutio, Kelly has reimagined how she runs her business. 

Here's what made the biggest difference:

1. Multi-currency invoicing that just works

"I have templates set up for each currency. I know if I use my US template, everything's correct. Same for Australia - GST is automatically applied. I never have to wonder if I forgot something."

And to make payments smoother for clients, Kelly integrates Airwallex directly into her Plutio invoices and proposals so clients can pay by card without getting hit by international banking fees.

She also loves the little details that make a big difference:

"I really like that I can see when someone's opened an invoice or proposal. If you've put your rates up and you see someone opening the proposal five days in a row, you know they're thinking about it. That kind of visibility helps."

Pro tip: getting notified when someone views your invoice or proposal can also help with refining your sales process. 

2. Templates that actually save time (and your sanity)

Plutio's task templates have become one of Kelly's favorite features:

"Having templates is a game-changer. When I was working for the Government I tried a variety of project management tools like Microsoft Project and others. And none had both project management capabilities and the ability to set up templates for all the tasks I regularly created.

Having both capabilities combined is a game changer. Being able to create task templates is like having a living SOP. 

But Plutio takes that a step further because the templates are built right into the project management tool. So I don’t have to go find an SOP from our Google Drive or explain a task again from scratch. 

I just hit ‘/template’ and fill in the variables. 

The result is that I can produce a detailed brief very quickly, in a matter of seconds sometimes, and my team has everything they need to do the task without having to ask lots of questions (or hunt around for the assets they need)... 

Plus if I find a better way to explain something or the task changes a little, I just tweak the template and all future tasks reflect the updates.”

3. Clearer communication with less back-and-forth

Kelly no longer deals with long, disjointed email threads to manage projects.

"Being able to ‘@’ comment on specific tasks makes communication clear. 

Because when you send an email about a task, you've got to put a subject line in. You've got to tell them what you're talking about. There's a preamble that has to happen.

Whereas with the task comments, I can just say: 'Where did you save this file?' - and it’s clear what I’m referring to. 

I don’t have to explain which project or which version. All the context is right there. It saves a lot of time and effort."

Plus, Plutio sends automated invoice reminders, which Kelly says removes the awkward chasing of late payments:

“I don’t have to bring it up unless they're really behind - Plutio chases payments for me. It means I can focus on moving forward with tasks and strategy.”

4. Professional & trustworthy links

Building trust is important. Especially in online business where you often never meet the other person. 

"I really like when I send an invoice or a proposal and all the links are branded with my own domain. It builds a lot of trust with the audience.

It’s like when someone emails you from a Gmail account - you can’t help but wonder: “Why don’t you have a business email?”

Same with links. Even if my clients haven’t heard of Plutio, they know it’s safe to click because it’s on my site."

Kelly’s getting more done (with less stress)

In fact, Kelly now uses Plutio to manage not just her business, but also a client’s business she helps run. 

And even her creative projects - like publishing books and launching new digital products - get tracked in Plutio.

"Thanks to Plutio I’m definitely more organized, waste less time and have less to be stressed about. I never have to wonder if I’ve invoiced correctly or missed some tax setting."

And with built-in time tracking, she can stay accountable to herself and keep tabs on what her assistant is working on.

"I’m not great at estimating how long something will take, so tracking time helps me be honest with myself. It also helps me keep track of what my assistant’s doing since we don’t work in the same place."

Real results: a 10-page flip book for Cosmos magazine

With Plutio doing the heavy lifting in the background, Kelly has more time to take on the side projects she likes.

“Plutio makes it easy to switch between client work and my own goals, all in one place.”

One recent project involved creating a 9-page “flip book” as the back section of an issue of Cosmos Magazine, in partnership with Queensland University of Technology. 

She interviewed the experts, wrote all the content, did the typesetting, designed the cover… And then coordinated revisions and approvals between two separate teams - the client and the Cosmos editorial/design team.

All in all that was about 10% of the whole magazine by herself! 

It would be fair to say that just that task alone could be someone’s full time job, not just a project.

And everything was tracked inside Plutio - task management, approvals, deadlines and even feedback.

“Plutio made it so much easier to organize all the bits and pieces and get everything done. There were a lot of tight turnarounds. And a lot of last minute adjustments. So yes - very, very helpful to have Pluto on my side so to speak.”

Advice for someone on the fence?

When it comes to making the leap to a new tool, Kelly knows that hesitation is normal. But agrees that sometimes you don’t know how painful 'normal' is until you see how good things can be:

“Have a think about what tools you're using now. And if you don't have a single tool that does all these things… 

How much easier would it be for you if you did have everything in one place… and you could use just one tool to do all of it?

If it's taking you time and causing any kind of stress or issues having to switch between tasks, copying and pasting things, jumping from one tool to another…

Then give it a go! Do a free trial and see if it's gonna save you time.

Because sometimes you don't know how much something is irritating you, or how many problems it's causing until you actually see the other side of the fence.”

Pro tips for new users?

Once you get the basics of Plutio down, Kelly says there's one simple secret to leveling up even further… 

“Once you have the basics set up and you've gotten into the groove and got the hang of how everything works… Start using the templates!"

Create templates for anything that you do even semi-regularly because it will save you so much time. 

And it creates consistency as well because you just apply the template each time instead of having to remember every single thing each project needs.”

To be fair just the thought of making a template for every task can feel daunting. 

So Kelly has another tip - don’t start from scratch:

“If you have a task that goes well - you can just save that task as a template - that’s the good thing about Plutio."

"There might be little bits and pieces that you might need to have as variable so you can put ‘XXX’ to remind you to replace those parts when you create something from it.”

Note: In some cases, you can even use a custom field as a variable so it automatically updates the information for each client, task or project. Take a look at Zvi’s story for an example.

“In other words you don't have to create the template from scratch - start from something that worked well and then iterate - which speeds things up and makes every project go smoother.”

The bottom line

Kelly built her business to have more flexibility. And Plutio helps her keep it that way.

Whether she’s onboarding clients, scaling delivery or switching between projects - Plutio keeps everything connected, professional and easy to manage.

"I wouldn’t say that scaling to this point would have been impossible without Plutio… but it would have been a lot harder."

Here at Plutio we’re all about not doing things the hard way when if an easier way exists. If you agree - then give it a go and see the difference Plutio can make for yourself.

A few fun facts about Kelly

When she’s not managing complex campaigns or writing for national publications, Kelly is a fantasy fiction fan & author. 

With a passion for Dragons she collects dragon figurines and paints her own dragon-themed artwork. 

“I love dragons. I nearly used one as my logo - but went with an owl to stay professional.”

Kelly’s also published several books - both non-fiction and fiction, including some children’s picture books. 

In the coming months Kelly’s starting a new project where she’ll be writing shorter fictional stories to help her build her ‘fiction writing muscle’. (Which she’ll need to finish her 120,000 word novel).

Here at Plutio we’re proud to support her (and creatives like her) and will cheer her past the finish line. 

We’d love to support you too!

That’s all, see you in the next one.